


Fox in the Forest

by me_midget (gin_tonic)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Beltane, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-20
Updated: 2013-06-20
Packaged: 2017-12-15 15:17:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/851023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gin_tonic/pseuds/me_midget
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Beltane and the celebrations have started. Harry soon finds himself wandering in the Forbidden Forest and stumbles across something he never thought possible.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fox in the Forest

**Author's Note:**

> An enormous thanks goes to my wonderful beta, [](http://unbroken-halo.dreamwidth.org/profile)[](http://unbroken-halo.dreamwidth.org/)**unbroken_halo**!  <3
> 
> Written for: [](http://sealcat.dreamwidth.org/profile)[](http://sealcat.dreamwidth.org/)**sealcat**  
> 

They had cleared an area right next to the Forbidden Forest for the celebrations. It was left unsaid that they wanted to create new memories here, where the battle had raged five years ago almost exactly to the date. McGonagall probably had something to do with the whole thing – she certainly had to have signed off on the party and the location. Whoever had planned this, they had decided to have a celebration of life instead of a day of mourning, and had chosen the night of Beltane – or _Bealltainn_ , as it was called in Scots Gaelic – and not May 2nd, the day of the final battle. Harry had long fought with himself whether he should attend the party or not, but in the end a night of music, food, dancing and drinking sounded like the right thing. After all, he wanted to move forward.

Harry had never been to a Beltane celebration before and from what he'd heard from Ron, it could get pretty raunchy sometimes, especially when it was a traditional kind of celebration. Which theirs thankfully wasn't – though Hermione still decided that she'd better read up on all there was to know about Beltane.

Someone had built a huge bonfire and the trees were hung with lanterns and colourful bands. There were tables loaded with food and drinks, and a band played close to the forest. Harry saw Luna dancing next to them, still alone, but with enough people swaying nearby. Harry was sure she wouldn't stay alone for long.

Ginny had somehow made George come as well, and it was George who brought Harry his first beer of the evening. They clinked the necks of their bottles and smiled faintly into the direction of the bonfire.

"Are you okay, being here?" Harry asked George quietly. They had grown a lot closer in those past five years, especially with Ron and Hermione being a couple and choosing to spend a lot of their time alone.

George nodded slowly. "Actually, I am. I feel like I'm closer to him." At Harry's worried look, he added, "In a good way. It's comforting."

Harry nodded. He knew exactly what George meant. The forest and he had always been connected. So many things had happened here – most of them bad. He'd come across Voldemort in his first year, stumbled across Aragog in his second. In his third year, he and Sirius had nearly died close by, in his fourth Crouch Jr. had killed his father and buried him in the forest. In his fifth year he'd found the Thestrals – found them beautiful, really – and had flown on one to break into the Ministry of Magic. His sixth year had brought him close again when he'd chased Snape here, only to be hexed, and in his seventh year … well, in his seventh year he'd died in the Forbidden Forest. And Snape had died close by.

"You know, they say during Beltane the veil between our world and the world of the dead is thin."

"I thought that was Halloween."

George shook his head. "Beltane, too. Maybe that's why I feel so close to him." He took another sip from the bottle, then straightened up. "Well, I'm not going to waste this night. I'm going to show Freddy how to party – he'll enjoy that, seeing me happy."

"I bet he will." Harry squeezed George’s shoulder and watched him move forward to the dancers. As far as he remembered, Fred had been a force to be reckoned with on the dance floor. George would surely make him proud.

 

******

 

He'd long lost Hermione and Ron in the crowd, but didn't mind too much. It was nice to circle around. Here and there, he met people he knew – Dean, Seamus, Neville and Dennis – and stopped to chat for a minute or two. He tried the punch with woodruff as well as the beer, but never let the buzz become more than just pleasant. It was close to 11pm when Ginny found Harry and convinced him to take part in a game of tag. He didn't quite know why he agreed to that of all things, but it felt good to be exuberant and young for a while.

For people who routinely flicked and swished, and played Quidditch, everyone was fantastically uncoordinated. Harry had recently taken up jogging and could give a good chase at least. It was Dean's turn to catch and Harry evaded him yet again, laughing hard. Dean grinned, gave him a two-fingered salute and went after him again. Harry suppressed the giggling shriek that wanted to burst from his lips and darted behind a tree. He heard Dean's heavy steps behind him and ran further into the forest until all noise subsided.

Even though it was night, the forest wasn't completely dark. A strange glow emanated from the trees. It looked pretty, Harry found, and smiled. Farther in the woods he saw a little, flickering light. And since he hadn't felt better, safer and happier in a long time, he decided to have a look. A break from the party, no matter how fun it was, would be nice. And he would be alright – he had his wand in his pocket. All was well.

As he walked farther, he could hear singing coming from somewhere between the trees. Was he going back? Harry pressed against a tree and peeked around it to make sure Dean wasn't lurking anywhere near, when he suddenly heard a giggle.

"Gin?" It would be just like her to hide out in the bushes to sneak up on him. But it wasn't her he saw when he turned around, but a glowing little ball. As the light dimmed, just a little, he saw that the ball was a little lady, looking a bit like a pixy, but friendlier. She had a wreath made of flowers in her tiny hands and placed it on Harry's head, giggling.

Harry stared at her in awe. He'd expected ghosts to show on Beltane, but had completely forgotten about the Faerie. The little faerie cheekily kissed him on the nose before she flew off. Once again, Harry was alone in the forest. It was strange to feel safe in a place like this, but he did. Maybe it was the magic of Beltane, maybe it was the presence of the faerie, but Harry knew no harm would come to him. He walked on – now ambling about more than he was wandering. Maybe this was the kind of closure he'd been waiting for, for so long. His way of taking back this place of his nightmares.

Suddenly, Harry heard a sound that didn't fit into the calm of this night. A whimper, faint and helpless. Harry frowned, gripped his wand tighter and followed the sound. Just past a cluster of trees he found where the whimper originated. A silvery-black fox was lying on the ground, twisting to lick his front paw. An open wound, looking like a bite glistened with blood in the dim light.

Harry advanced slowly and carefully, trying not to scare the fox. It looked up at him and twitched as if it wanted to get away, but it was too weak. He knelt down next to it.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said and reached out to touch the fox. Its snout snapped forward and sharp teeth missed Harry's hand only because his reflexes were still good. "Really, I promise."

Harry withdrew his hand, still and slipped his wand in his hand instead. He was okay with healing spells, but he had no idea if they would work on animals, too. He ran his wand over the fox, which tried to bite it, to check him with a basic diagnostics spell before he attempted anything else.

Slowly, the fox seemed to calm down and Harry got a reading from his spell. A healing spell would mend the paw and a charm to disinfect should help with the rest, Harry hoped. The casting was quick work and Harry scooted back until he was resting against a tree to watch the fox.

It blinked once or twice, then sat up and gingerly tested its paw. Harry smiled. This was proof that good things could happen inside this forest, too. He was taken aback when the fox suddenly yet slowly advanced on him. Both sides obviously weary, the fox lay down next to Harry, just out of his reach and closed his eyes.

It was only then that Harry realised just how tired he was. The wreath on his head weighed him down and he yawned widely. As his eyes grew heavy, he looked around and cast a protective spell over the clearing for good measure. He would be alright.

 

******

 

When Harry woke, he found the forest full of mist. It looked like the trees were growing out of a cloudy ground. The same light, tinkling music he'd heard before was handing in the air, almost tangible. And the fox was gone.

"I'm dreaming," Harry whispered and pinched himself for good measure. It hurt, but that probably didn't say anything about whether or not this was real. He got up and looked around. He should go _somewhere_ , even if this was just a dream. Harry tried spotting the path he'd come from, but everything around the clearing looked the same to him. He tried the _Point Me_ spell, but even that was useless.

"It won't work here."

Harry whirled around, his wand pointed at the newcomer in reflex, even though he'd recognised the voice immediately. It was too unique to be mistaken for somebody else's, even if he'd never thought he'd hear it again. "It's you," he said and lowered his wand, staring unblinkingly at Severus Snape. Now it was clear that this was a dream after all – and Harry was thankful for whatever Beltane magic allowed him to have it.

"So it seems."

"What do you mean it won't work here?" Harry asked, putting his wand away.

"Wherever this is, there are no cardinal points and no direction in which you can follow. Because there is nowhere you have to be."

Harry nodded. He'd experienced something similar while in limbo at King's Cross Station. This had to be a place like this, only this time it was a place connected with Snape and not with Dumbledore and Hogwarts. "I don't want to go anywhere, anyway." Not anymore, at least. Snape nodded, but said nothing and waited. "Have you been here long?"

"A while."

There were so many things Harry wanted to say, but he didn't know how long this dream would last. How to use the time he was given best? Maybe the most important first. "I'm sorry!" Snape quirked an eyebrow. "And I… I never got to tell you that I fancied you."

"You're sorry about that?"

Harry blushed. "That too. But there wasn't really a chance for me to… Well, I don't want to miss another opportunity."

"Alright then."

"You… that's the only thing you're gonna say about that?" He expected Snape to laugh, though a tiny and yet very hopeful part of himself hoped that Snape would at least be flattered.

Snape shrugged, then sighed. "Bugger it. Can't do any damage now, can it?" Snape took a deep breath. "Potter, I've wanted to fuck you since I saved you that day in the Forest of Dean. I'd very much like to rip off your clothes and bugger you from here to Sunday." Two things happened simultaneously: a) Harry blushed from head to toe (he could feel it) and b) Harry's dick very much sprung into action. Snape blinked. "Looks like you wouldn't mind."

"I told you I fancy you, didn't I?" Harry stammered. Before he could say more, Snape was in front of him, pulled him close and kissed him roughly. Harry's arm went around Snape's neck immediately and he nipped and licked and kissed as well as he got. Snape manoeuvred them onto the mossy ground and Harry thought he heard him mutter _'…every damn slice of paradise I can get…'_. Harry wasn't about to protest.

They struggled out of their clothes, not wanting to stop kissing. Harry needed to feel Snape – feel everything of him, feel Snape inside him. He didn't know how long they had, but damn if he was going to let it go to waste. This was a dream, after all, and there was no need for talk when all he wanted was to fuck Snape.

When he finally felt Snape's cock next to his own, it was glorious. He'd never felt anything like this before – had never done anything like this before, actually – but this was a dream and his nervousness had vanished in the mist that surrounded them.

He bit his lip as Snape took their lengths into his hand and started stroking them. "Fuck… please… I…" he stammered incoherently. Snape smirked, then captured his lips in a kiss again. Snape was like a force on his own, like the tide sweeping you away. Having his skin against Harry's was like falling and flying at the same time.

Then Snape's hand left their cocks – only to return, wet and probing at Harry's hole. He'd played around with himself before, but having someone else do this to him felt indescribably good. "More!" Snape was only too happy to oblige. One finger became two, then three. "Please."

There was no hesitation as Snape pushed his dick inside of Harry. When Harry gasped at the intrusion and the burn, Snape waited for a moment or two until Harry had adjusted to the pressure. Then he started moving until he'd reduced Harry to a whimpering, moaning mess. Harry clung to Snape's back, scratching and not caring about it, needing more of what he got. Pleas tumbled from his lips, urging Snape on. Snape's fingers roamed Harry's body, plucking Harry's nipples, turning Harry's head to kiss him, hot breath coming in moaned puffs. Finally, Snape took hold of Harry's cock and twisted-pulled-jerked – just once or twice, and Harry came with a loud groan. Snape thrust inside him until Harry was utterly spent, then he gasped against Harry's shoulder and sank down onto Harry.

 

******

 

Harry woke again, dressed and alone, lying next to a tree. The flowers in his hair had slipped and hung askew. As he sat up, he sighed. The fog had cleared from the ground and most of the light that had come from the trees was gone, too. Instead, Harry could see stray rays of sunshine breaking through the treetops. It had to be morning.

He got up slowly and dusted himself off, wincing at the movement. Must've been from sleeping on the hard ground, he thought. A noise made him whirl around, expecting the fox to return. But instead it was Snape. Harry could only gape at him.

Snape walked closer, moving stiffly, then came to a stop a couple of feet in front of Harry. Strangely enough, he looked like he was grappling for words. "You are not dead, are you?"

Harry blinked and managed to press out a 'No'.

Snape nodded. "Seems like neither am I. What day is it?"

"May 1st."

"The day after Beltane." Snape nodded again. "I suppose this makes sense." He huffed out a small laugh. "Potter, you were a virgin, weren't you?"

Harry blushed crimson and started trembling at the same time, as he realised that last night had very definitely not been a dream. And he very much was not a virgin anymore.

"Only you…" Snape shook his head. "Only you'd manage to work Beltane magic like this."

Slowly, last night's events became a little clearer. Harry took a deep breath. "It was you. The fox, I mean."

Snape cocked his head and pursed his lips. He looked weird, standing there in the middle of the clearing, like he didn't quite know what to do with himself. "Yes. I wandered in the woods for a long while. But I don't think I was here in the real world… wherever I was, Beltane brought that place and the forest together."

"And when I saved you – the fox …"

"You turned me into my real form temporarily. It must have been you giving up your virginity that returned me this world."

"Wicked." Harry licked his lips. He was overwhelmed by the situation – there were so many things he wanted to do, like throwing his arms around Snape's neck and kissing him again, or ask, like what Snape would do now, what their night together meant. But he could only be sure of one thing: he was hungry. "Do you want to go get breakfast?"

Snape regarded him for a moment before he answered. "I haven't really eaten since the day I died." And Harry took that as a yes and led Snape out of the forest.

******

  


The End


End file.
